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Neutral Citation Number:
Reported Number:	R(TC)2/06
File Number:	CTC 1630 2005
Appellant:
Respondent:
Judge/Commissioner:	Other Judges / Other Commissioners/Deputy Commissioners
Date Of Decision:	28/04/2006
Date Added:	16/05/2006
Main Category:	Tax credits and family credit
Main Subcategory:	couples and joint claims
Secondary Category:
Secondary Subcategory:
Notes:	Couples and joint claims - trial separation - whether “likely to be permanent” The claimant was married with three children. She and her husband separated in April 2003 but the husband moved back into the matrimonial home in October 2003. She made a single claim for tax credits with effect from April 2003. After the end of the 2003/2004 tax year the Inland Revenue decided that the claimant and her husband had not been separated in circumstances in which the separation was likely to be permanent and they therefore fell to be treated as a married couple as defined in section 3(5) of the Tax Credits Act 2002, so that she should have made a joint claim for tax credits. The claimant appealed. The tribunal dismissed her appeal and she appealed to the Commissioner. Held, allowing the appeal, that: 1. before concluding that a separation is unlikely to be permanent, the tribunal must consider why the separation has occurred and what indications there are that the couple may be reconciled and must conclude that there is at least a 50 per cent chance of a reconciliation. It is unlikely that such a reconciliation will occur before the parties have taken steps to deal with the problems that led to the separation in the first place, and have actually begun the process of arranging to live together again. A tribunal should be slow to differ from the claimant’s own genuine assessment of the likelihood of a reconciliation, although that is a subjective assessment and the tribunal is not bound by it (paragraph 18); 2. on the facts of this case the likelihood initially following the separation was that the separation would be permanent (paragraphs 19 to 23); 3. there was no evidence that the separation had ceased to be likely to be permanent before 1 October 2003 and the claimant was entitled to make a single claim and to receive tax credits on the basis of her single claim from 6 April 2003 to 30 September 2003 (paragraph 24).
Decision(s) to Download:	R(TC) 2-06 bv.doc